West Prince sandwich plant closing down

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The Kings Processing sandwich plant in Bloomfield, P.E.I. is closing at the end of the month.

The plant produces sandwiches mostly for the convenience store market. Twenty-two people work there. A Nova Scotia company took over the plant in 2011.

"We had some hopes that we could turn it around," said general manager Jeremy Hunter.

"We had made some really good gains with the help of the employees there but not enough to get the plant to the point where it's profitable. As a result we've made the very difficult decision to close the plant. Myself personally, I have gotten to know some of the employees there over the last couple of years. The decision definitely wasn't taken lightly."

Hunter said the plant only had enough orders to run three days a week.

In the past, the company had some recalls because of listeria, and Hunter said that cast a shadow on the current operation.

The company is trying to help the employees in any way they can, he said. There was a job fair at the plant this week to help employees find new work.

Talks are underway with another company interested in taking over the facility, but not as a sandwich plant.

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